Forum application, need advice

by 6 replies
7
Hello,
phpbb is one of the popular open source forum application.

But the problem is that most of the phpbb forum has been hacked and automatically thousands and thousands of user and posts.

Is there any way to protect it? or is there any other alternative open source forum application ?

If you refer vbulletin I am not interested for it.

Any advice.
#programming #advice #application #forum
  • Here is a link to wikipedia's comparison of forums written in PHP.

    Phorum is one of my favorites (vbulletin and phpbb excluded).
  • phpBB is without question one of the most popular forums. And for good reason because the possibilities are endless. But as with any popular webapplications hackers are trying to break their way in.

    So the popularity of phpBB could be seen as a downside. But on the upside you could say that IF there is a vulnerability detected it will be fixed quickly because of the sheer number of developers available.

    With that said, one of the best features of phpBB is the ability to easily install addons. There are many security addons available, just pick the ones that are right for you and you'll be able to build a safe and fully featured forum.

    Good luck,

    Rembo
    • [1] reply
    • Many "hacks" are a result of poor implementation of security standards. Make sure you follow the best practices for your implementation and you should be safe against hackers.

      However, the excessive forum volume you speak of is not really hacking. This is likely the result of all the IM activity people like the members here are doing! If this concerns you, simply setup no-follow links or ban anchors altogether in your forum. I've seen one forum where it only allowed signature links if you posted > 50 times (good at weeding out the 1 post IM profiles anyhow).

      You also might not see a lot of IM activity until your forum has a decent PR and is reasonably popular. So this might not even be a risk factor when starting out.

      Ultimately I think the best control mechanism for forums is community involvement. Your moderators should be able to weed out any obviously non-valuable content. You just need enough moderators to suite your post volume.
      • [1] reply
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